[stephenkhoo]

HAPPINESS IS HAVING A BIG HEART

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ JER 17:5-10; PS 1:1-4,6; LUKE 16:19-31]

We all seek happiness in life. No one wants to be sad or miserable. Yet, many are not able to find true happiness because they seek at the wrong places. But it is not so much in the things that we do or acquire that make us fulfilled or empty. Rather, it is because the person is too inward-looking, too absorbed in himself that he becomes oblivious to the presence of his fellowmen and also to God.

This was the case of the Rich Man. He had no name because he had no identity. He lived only for himself. He was absorbed by the little world he lived in. The world was simply his riches, his luxuries, his pleasures and perhaps his few friends. Nothing was said about his doing anything wrong or evil. He was just oblivious to the presence of a poor man in front of his house who was hungry and his body “covered with sores, who longed to fill himself with the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Dogs even came, and licked his sores.” He could enter and leave his house without noticing the poor man who was deprived and whose only companions were the dogs whom the Jews considered as unclean.

The psalmist warns us, “A curse on the man who puts his trust in man, who relies on things of the flesh, whose heart turns from the Lord. He is like dry scrub in the wastelands: if good comes, he has no eyes for it, he settles in the parched places of the wilderness, a salt land, uninhabited.” Indeed, many of us think that happiness is found in riches and in pleasures. We think that with these, we can be happy and fulfilled. That was what another rich man in the parable of the Rich Fool said after a bumper harvest of crops, “I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?'” (Lk 12:18-20) Indeed, these things we cannot bring along with us at the moment of death.

Some of us might think happiness and security are found in our loved ones and friends. Yet, the truth is that no matter how beautiful human relationships are on this earth, it will end either through death, departure, absence or even betrayals. “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help. When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish.” (Ps 146:3f) This is the cause of depression for many married couples when their spouse returns to the Lord, or parents when their children grow up and leave their homes, some even migrating. The truth is that we are all gifts on loan to each other while we have time together. A day will come when our loved ones have to go for one reason or another. If we just depend on our loved ones alone and make them the gods of our life, what will happen to us when these gods die? Our lives will be totally empty and meaningless.

Happiness in life, whether on earth or in heaven, is when we have a big heart for everyone. Where is heaven? It is in our hearts! The bigger the capacity is our heart to love, to embrace people, the bigger is our heaven. Even in heaven there are depths as well, even though all are complete in God. When a man goes beyond himself and his loved ones to love and embrace the rest of humanity, he will have a happy and joyful life. He experiences true freedom and joy. He will not be overly dependent on his loved ones or cling to them as if they are their treasures and gods that he cannot do without. Whilst loving our friends and family members, our hearts are also open to those that we do not know, strangers, the poor, the sick and the suffering. When we open our hearts to them, we will come to share in the love and joy of God.

Abraham is the exemplar of a rich man who knows how to be truly rich. “Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.” (Gn 13:2) But he was not greedy or kept all his riches to himself. When there was a strife between the herdsmen of Abram and his nephew Lot, he gave the choice to his nephew to choose whichever land he would like to go. (cf Gn 13:8-12) Later, when he rescued Lot from his enemies, he acknowledged God as his protector by giving one-tenth of everything to the priest of God Most High after the thanksgiving service. (cf Gn 14:18-21) Instead of keeping the booty for himself, he told the King of Sodom, “I have sworn to the Lord, God Most High, maker of heaven and earth, that I would not take a thread or a sandal-thong or anything that is yours, so that you might not say, ‘I have made Abram rich.'” (Gn 14:22f)

Most of all, Abraham was well known for his generosity towards strangers. Being a migrant and stranger in a foreign land himself, he knew the struggles and the difficulties of travelers, especially in the desert. Abraham made a point to welcome travelers and offered them hospitality. So great was his generosity that he would personally welcome strangers. He would serve them himself and not allow the servants to take care of his guests. As a result, unknowingly, he welcomed even the angels. When he saw three men standing near him at the heat of the day, “he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, ‘My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on – since you have come to your servant.'” (Gn 18:1-8) Abraham conducted himself like a servant to his guests. Hence, inspired by Abraham, the author of Hebrews exhorts us, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured.” (Heb 13:2f)

It is within this context, that Jesus referred to Abraham welcoming Lazarus. Jesus must have remembered Abraham when He told the Parable of the Final Judgement. “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Mt 25:40) And it is significant that only the poor man has a name, an identity, because he was identified with Christ, whereas the rich man was simply called Dives, which simply means a rich man. It is not even a name. Indeed, as the Lord said, “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” (Mt 25:35f)

Indeed, upon our death, it will be the Lord who will welcome us to His kingdom. But it would be Abraham who would testify against us if we neglect the poor and the suffering. When the rich man cried out to Abraham (since salvation was still not accomplished in Christ), Abraham said, “My son, remember that during your life good things came your way, just as bad things came the way of Lazarus. Now he is being comforted here while you are in agony. But that is not all: between us and you a great gulf has been fixed, to stop anyone, if he wanted to, crossing from our side to yours, and to stop any crossing from your side to ours.” Our life on earth is the time in which we are given opportunities to grow in the capacity to love. After death, our decision for Christ is fixed. That is why those in hell cannot be saved, not because God does not want to save them but because their hearts are already hardened in charity. The damned does not need God, not because God does not forgive them. Yet, no one can say that he had not been given the opportunities to grow in love. As Abraham told the rich man, “They have Moses and the prophets, let them listen to them. If they will not listen either to Moses or to the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead.” There seems to be hope for the rich man though, because in spite of his self-absorption, he had a heart for his five brothers who too were living his selfish kind of life. So long as our heart is open, God will enter and fill us with His love.